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PBNB Crown Club members cruise the Hawaiian Islands

A large group of Pine Bluff National Bank Crown Club members left the cold of winter behind earlier this year as they departed for the sunny Hawaiian Islands.

The group received a traditional Hawaiian greeting with wonderfully scented leis and then was escorted to their hotel for a two-night stay on the world famous Waikiki Beach.

They had free time on their first evening to enjoy the beach, shopping and fabulous dining. The following day the club members departed for a guided tour of the island with several stops along the way including the Dole plantation, one of Oahu’s most popular tourist attractions that welcomes more than a millions visitors each year.

The group was delighted to have the afternoon and evening at the Polynesian Cultural Center to get a glimpse of the Polynesian people and their villages, one of the highlights everyone enjoyed was the rousing Canoe Pageant. The Luau followed the pageant. This Luau, featuring live music and traditional Hawaiian song and dance, won the Kahili award for preserving Hawaiian culture. The excitement continued as the group took in “Hā: Breath of Life,” a story of passion, ignited by fire, song and dance. It is a Pacific isle saga of birth and death, love and family, triumph and tragedy.

The following morning, the travelers toured the island before boarding their cruise ship for their seven-night, four island cruise through paradise.

The first port of call was Maui. The group had the first day to choose an option or explore on their own. The second day in Maui, they enjoyed an included shore excursion to Hawaiian Cowboy country and on up to Maui’s House of the Sun, a volcano. The volcano is a moonlike crater the size of Manhattan.

The next few days they took time to explore the Big Island, a full day of touring Volcanoes National Park, Akatsuka Orchid Nursery, Rainbow Falls plus the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory. This evening everyone enjoyed the cruise past Mount Kilauea, the only active volcano still in the Hawaiian Islands.

The last island visited on this cruise was Kauai, “The Garden Island”; the group enjoyed a ride up the 3400 ft. mountain to view Waimea Canyon, “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”. Along the route, they enjoyed Old Koloa Town, circa 1834, heart of Hawaii’s first sugar cane plantation and Waimea, the little town where Captain Cook first set foot in Hawaii in 1778. In the afternoon, the crown clubbers took a cruise down the Wailua River to the lush, beautiful Fern Grotto and then a stop at Opaekaa Falls.

The group enjoyed free-style dining and many included excursions, but they also had plenty of free time to enjoy Hawaii “Their Way” with options like dune buggies on the beach, parasailing, helicopter tours and much more. Once the group disembarked, they enjoyed a final day back in Honolulu, where they visited the USS Arizona Memorial and the beautiful Eastern Shore of Hawaii. After a dinner stop, it was time for the travelers to go to the airport and start their journey home with an abundance of memories to cherish.